Whereas Houser has since resigned from Rockstar Video games, his ideas on that matter nonetheless ring true. On the very least, the USA has definitely not turn out to be considerably much less absurd within the years since Donald Trump’s presidency. Whereas the alternatives for a modern-era GTA sport had been all the time apparent (GTA 5’s then-modern setting allowed Rockstar to take GTA On-line in some wild and profitable instructions), the challenges had been equally obvious. As such, some suspected that Rockstar might elect to chew the bullet and set GTA 6 someplace previously.
As an alternative, Rockstar leaned into the skid by going to Florida. For many who don’t know, the state of Florida has earned fairly the status over the previous few…properly, many years or so. In newer occasions, the web has fallen in love with the legacy of “Florida Man:” the phrases that usually precede a seemingly infinite variety of reviews relating to some absurd crime that occurred within the state of Florida.
There are even web sites the place you’ll be able to enter your birthday to see which ridiculous “Florida Man” crime was dedicated on that day. As an illustration, my birthday brings up the real-life headline “Florida Man Googled ‘How To Rob A Financial institution’ Earlier than Robbing A Financial institution.” That’s surprisingly applicable provided that GTA 6 seemingly stars a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde-like couple. After all, it’s value noting that the complete Florida Man sensation may be partially attributed to a Florida state legislation that enables for unusually detailed reviews on arrests to be launched to the general public. So, whereas some states might solely reveal that there was a home dispute, Florida will let you understand {that a} spouse attacked her husband with the assistance of their pet alligator.
But, Florida stays an particularly absurd state in some methods. It’s the state whose political leaders will argue that many ought to have the ability to carry a hid weapon with out a allow but have tried to position restrictions on drag reveals and loos. It’s a state that’s attempting to ban Important Race Principle and push the “Don’t Say Homosexual” initiative however can be the house of “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” Disney World. It’s a place the place retirees and fugitives gleefully flee. It’s one of many nice cultural melting pots in the USA and the unwiped asshole of that very same nation.
As you’ll be able to see, Florida can be a state of contradictions. An important of which often is the state’s usually excessive wealth and revenue gaps. Florida is the house of each the uber-rich and the extraordinarily poor. You in all probability noticed caricatures of each in that GTA 6 trailer. Whereas there are occasions when it looks like these on each side of that wealth hole like to exhibit their existence in probably the most excessive methods potential, the actual fact of the matter is that Florida is much from the one state that bears the burden of that usually crippling social subject. In actual fact, by many metrics, Florida isn’t even the worst state for revenue and wealth inequality. Apart from Washington DC, that honor really belongs to New York: one of many unique targets of GTA’s cruel American satire.
And that’s very a lot the purpose right here. Florida is the right GTA setting not only for the methods the state has turn out to be the embodiment of the absurdity that after felt like the only property of the GTA franchise, however for the ways in which Florida has turn out to be the customarily ridiculously on-the-nose embodiment of most of the contradictions, points, and subcultures which have come to outline the USA.
